Tuesday, July 19, 2016

My Pet Human by Yasmine Surovec


My Pet Human 
by Yasmine Surovec
Published August, 2015
Roaring Brook Press
Early Chapter Book
FictionHardcover
112 Pages 
Review copy obtained from public library

Goodreads Summary
From queen cat lady Yasmine Surovec comes a cuddly new chapter book series about a cat in need of a pet human.
Oliver is an independent kitty. He has his run of the neighborhood and looks at his animal friends with their fussing humans with pity. But when a freckle-faced girl moves into town, Oliver sees the opportunity to train a human to provide him with a few creature comforts. And if he can help her adjust to her life and make a new friend, that's just all in a day's work. The real surprise comes, however, when Oliver needs Freckles just as much as she needs him. Not a comic book and not a traditional illustrated chapter book, My Pet Human is truly a hybrid of text and art that could only come from the whimsical and brilliant mind of Yasmine Surovec.


My Thoughts
Writing early chapters books from children ages 6-8 is very tricky. The text must be written at a manageable level with interesting illustrations and a story young ones will enjoy. Surovec has done all of that beautifully in My Pet Human. Using first person narration, the stray cat tells the story of how to train humans to do what you want. Speech bubbles are used whenever the animals or humans speak which I thought was very clever, especially since there are several characters. The simple, black and white line illustrations are adorable work with the text to help young readers understand the story. 

The story itself involves conflict near the end that will have children needing to find out how it ends. 
I loved this book and will recommend it to anyone with children who are ready for chapter books or as a read aloud for ages 6-8. 

 Reminds me of...
 a series I also love called Down Girl and Sit

Read what others have to say about this book.
Publishers Weekly
Kirkus

No comments:

Post a Comment